State Fair (1945)
Director: Walter Lang
Honors:
Reaching back into the well of previously successful pictures Fox
delivers a Technicolor remake of their 1933 Will Rogers picture State Fair. On top of its glorious color
is the fact that the remake is a musical, and has the claim as the only
production written originally for the screen by the famed musical duo Rodgers
and Hammerstein. Eventually this 1945 motion picture musical would be adapted
for the stage, this musically packed feature takes audiences to the innocent
carefree days of youth and romance at an early 20th century
destination that is the state fair.
State Fair is Rogers and Hammerstein
musical about an Iowa family’s experiences at the state fair, focusing
primarily on the youths discovering new found loves wrapped in the romance that
is the experience of the fair. Our tale follows the Frake family as they
prepare for the culminating event of the year, the state fair. While Father,
Abel (Charles Winninger), and Mother, Melissa (Fay Bainter), are preoccupied
with their respective competitions of best pig and best pickles and mincemeat,
their young adult children, Margy (Jeanne Crain) and Wayne (Dick Haymes) are
discovering romance at the fairgrounds. Wayne becomes infatuated with an
intelligent and beautiful singer, Emily (Vivian Blaine) while roaming the
carnival, but finds it difficult to compete with what he thinks is higher
musical class with which she socializes in. Our main story, although, lies with
Margy who finds an exciting new love interest in Pat (Dana Andrews), a reporter
for a Des Moines newspaper covering his experience at the fair. The drama of
the picture revolves around the heartbreak of the Wayne and Margy that their
hopeful significant others are offered better things in bigger cities leaving
Wayne and Margy behind only to have the lovers reunited, ultimately with Margy
and Pat arranged to wed.
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| Jeanne Crain and Dana Andrews |
The picture is a an innocent, light-hearted fun tale that captures the sentiment
of what fairs meant to townspeople of smaller communities in the early to
mid-20th century. The rich colors and emotional tones evoke the
carefree days of youth and the fluttering joys of young love. The music of
Rogers and Hammerstein accentuates the ideals of a simpler age when one’s
worries were modestly whether their bravery could conquer the carnival’s rollercoaster
or if they could dance with that cute someone.
Directed by Fox’s great in house musical filmmaker Walter Lang, the
film stars 20 year-old Jeanne Crain, a former beauty queen who was a rising
musical starlet at Fox. The studio originally was not aware of Lang’s own vocal
talents and had her vocals dubbed, but eventually she would be nurtured as a
singing star. Her love interest in the picture was portrayed by Dana Andrews,
who was 16 years her senior, and best known for his westerns and detective
pictures. The second love story feature former stunt man turned singer/actor
Dick Haymes and former touring singer Vivian Blaine as musically linked couple and
his fear that he may not fit into her crowd. To flesh out the story the movie
is filled with a wonderfully character driven supporting cast including the
likes of Charles Winninger and Fay Bainter as the father and mother, as well as
appearances by Donald Meek and an appearance of a still new to the screen Harry
Morgan.
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| Vivian Blaine and Dick Haymes |
It feels as if State Fair is
the 20th Century Fox answer for MGM’s earlier musical, and wildly
popular Meet Me in St. Louis. It is
not to claim that State Fair was
produced as a direct result of Meet Me in
St. Louis, but it does field it great deal of similarities. Both are
Technicolor musicals released only months apart from each other and surround
the idea of the families and their admiration of a fair. However Meet Me in St. Louis’ plot does not take
place at the fair, rather it concludes with the grand event. It seems all too
convenient that these pictures were produced at the same time. This usually lends
to studios watching at what their competitors may have been working on at the
time and feeding on their successes. However, it all could be a massive
coincidence.
The film released to mixed to favorable reviews. For the most part
audiences liked it, but critics could not help but feel the film provided no
real substance, seeing it as just major studio fluff. It was fluff. It was
enjoyable for many as well. For those that wished to relive the innocent days
of carefree youth accentuated with the music penned by Rogers and Hammerstein,
this was the film for them.
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| Fay Bainter and Charles Winninger |
State Fair be the only
production originally intended for motion pictures by the famed musical writing
partners Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The two had and would
continue to write for many wildly successful plays that would be adapted to the
screen, but this marked the only time their work was originally meant for the
screen. It would result in an Academy Award for the duo or their original song
“It Might as Well Be Spring” and eventually the musical would transition to the
stage in 1969.
State Fair is light and
colorful, and at times too clean. Depending on the palate of the viewer it
could be a film with charming virtues or musical all too sweet that it could
make one want to call for an appointment with their dentist. The 1933 original
had the benefit of being ever so slightly more risqué with its Pre-Code story
hinting at physical relations amongst it lovers, however this dolled-up musical
version was made in a time when Americans were being fed innocence for its mass
appeal during the final days of World War II. In the end the picture is a fine
film worth a watch as it does capture a hint of those days long gone with the
romance of place and love that only nostalgia can capture.
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